EU finds clerical solution to privacy concerns

The reduction of the number of data fields handed to US security
services announced by the European Union was achieved by squeezing
almost the same amount of data on to fewer lines. The news
undermines what was seen as a concession won by EU negotiators.27 Jul 2007

A new passenger name records (PNR) deal was announced this week by the EU and the US. It covers how much information can be handed to US authorities about passengers on flights from Europe to the US and the conditions on which it was kept.

The US won major concessions from the EU, winning its demands to keep data for far longer and the ability to pass it on to other US agencies. The EU appeared to win one argument, reducing the amount of data transferred.

"The number of data collected will be of 19, instead of 34 as foreseen by the interim Agreement," said a joint statement from the US and from a number of EU authorities, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the Presidency of the Council.

But the number of actual pieces of data asked for only reduced by two, to 32, and some extra information was asked for.

The new PNR deal lists 19 data fields which will be collected on every passenger. Many of the fields include multiple pieces of information.

For example, the previous deal asked for ticket number, ticket information, one-way ticket data and automated ticket fare quote data in four separate fields. The new deal has just one field which asks for "ticketing information, including ticket number, one way tickets and Automated Ticket Fare Quote".

"Now there are 19 fields from the 34 before, that is a fact," said Jesus Carmona, a spokesman for the Council of the European Union. "It is a question of putting more order in the previous 34."

Carmona did not accept that the change was a misleading attempt to make a clerical rearrangement look like a negotiations success. "It is an achievement, now things are clearer than before," he said. "Now we have a clear presentation of what the US want exactly."

Negotiations over PNR data have long proved controversial. The European Parliament has opposed the sending of data on principled grounds and has challenged one of the deals in court. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled a previous deal illegal, but only on a technicality. An almost identical interim agreement replaced it, and this long term agreement replaces that in turn.

Data protection officials also oppose the deal because the US does not have as strict privacy safeguards as Europe. The PNR system was put in place in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the US in September 2001.

Europe's privacy watchdog has opposed the latest version of the PNR system. Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor Joaquin Bayo Delgado told weekly technology podcast OUT-LAW Radio of his opposition.

"We are really worried about the terms in which this agreement has been reached," he said. "We are not pleased by the result and our wishes would have been to have a different outcome of the negotiations."

Bayo Delgado said that he was working with other data protection officials on Europe's Article 29 Working Party to investigate the workings of the new deal.

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